Staff Reporter
IT'S THE season of celebrations and flowers are an inevitable item. Jasmine, with its sweet fragrance, is among the bestl.
However, its sky-rocketing price has made it unaffordable to most people and dampened the spirit of celebrations not only within the city but elsewhere too. In fact, Thrissur, and the temple town of Guruvayoor, being the topmost importers of jasmine flowers, are witnessing an acute shortage of the flowers.
Jasmine which comes to Kerala is commercially grown in Coimbatore, Madurai, Dindikkal and Sathyamangalam in Tamil Nadu. But unseasonal heavy rains destroyed not only the crop bu the dreams of jasmine farmers. For the customer, it was a double whammy: non-availability of the blooms and high price.
The city saw a kg of jasmine being sold for Rs.2500 last week. Flower merchants are expecting it go up further.
Other flowers too have become dearer. "One single lotus now costs Rs.5. It was Rs.20 in Coimbatore not so long ago," said Sreejith, who sells flowers at Swaraj Round.
Flowers are always in demand. Other than personal needs, temple ceremonies also require large quantities of fresh blooms. When it's the season of marriages, the demand sky-rockets, putting further pressure on the price.
Faisal, who got married last Saturday, will remember the day more for a wrong reason. On the day of the niqah, he was anxiously waiting at the rail station for the Tea Garden Express to bring the all-important flowers. He dreaded the thought of the consignment not arriving, as it often happened lately.
Increased demand for flowers because of Pongal and the emerging demand for jasmine flowers abroad are said to be the the other reasons for the ever-increasing price. According to traders, a snowfall in the season could further worsen the situation.
In the absence of the traditional jasmine, pretenders have arrived in the market. But the fragrant Bangalore jasmine does not match up and the demand is low. If the price of the flower increases further, they could possibly become a new yardstick for measuring the affluence of people at weddings - a la gold.
No comments:
Post a Comment